From Software Elden Ring - From Software's new game with writing by GRRM

[Shrimp]

My biggest gripe with the game thus far is with the lore. Honestly, the world feels like rehashed Dark Souls, only......very, very slightly different. Bloodborne and Sekiro were also souls-likes, but they each had very distinct universes and aesthetics which were interesting and appealing in their own right. Elden Ring just feels like FromSoft wrote a script for Dark Souls 4 and decided to make a new IP at the last second, so they just went through all the lore and changed the names of things so people wouldn't notice. Whatever they paid GRRM, they need to get their money back, lol. I know that Souls-likes usually tell their stories via background, so maybe once people start putting the pieces together it will be interesting, but absolutely nothing about this universe has grabbed me yet.

Right from the moment it was announced GRRM was working on Elden Ring I figured they'd just made him write a couple of prompts for random characters and/or approved some scripts that was sent to him through an email. I don't think it ever was the plan for him to write an actual story for the game, just a handful of background fluff so they could slap his name on the cover for PR value.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

Also, I finally looked at a full world map online after 15 hours of playing this and holy shit this game is massive. For some reason, I had the impression that the entire gameworld was just the lower half of the world map, but there's still way more above it. It will probably take me 30 hours to do everything in just the opening sections of this game (i.e. everything under the wall). Usually by hour 30 I'm already at or near NG+ in previous Dark Souls.

 

[hackncrazy]

Also, I finally looked at a full world map online after 15 hours of playing this and holy shit this game is massive. For some reason, I had the impression that the entire gameworld was just the lower half of the world map, but there's still way more above it. It will probably take me 30 hours to do everything in just the opening sections of this game (i.e. everything under the wall). Usually by hour 30 I'm already at or near NG+ in previous Dark Souls.

You might also want to tag this with spoilers, because discovering this was one of the most orgasmic moments so far in my experience.

In my case

Spoiler

I was exploring a tower in the southern part of the map and got teleported through a chest to the extreme north of the map. Then I realized that the map shown at the beginning is just half of what's there to explore.

 

[toro]

this boss rocks

One of my favorites until now.

 

[Sunri]

Advice, don't play as mage

 

[hackncrazy]

this boss rocks

One of my favorites until now.

Loved this one as well, might be my favorite too.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

The AAA open world doesn't feel any different here than when I first encountered it in Blood Dragon years ago now. There are good mainline "missions" with actual level design, actual encounter design, some story beats etc. However most of your time is spent using a vehicle (or mount) to traverse between optional generic outposts, small enemy groups or treasure zones. Overly generous fast travel is available once you get bored. I've never found it particularly engaging but it's totally worn out, uninspired game design by this point.

Don't get me wrong Elden Ring is probably about as good as a game made this way can get but these modern open worlds always feel like they've been shat out by an algorithm once you take away the "mainline" content.

At present, not a timeless classic the way the Souls game are. Just a pretty good game. I'll see if my opinion changes as I go further ahead.

I can't think of many open world RPGs that are better than this, honestly. Each area feels distinct, they loop back onto each other in Souls-like fashion (discovering the item that's out of reach in the very first opening area was a great surprise), and at least in the opening areas, there's very little that feels copy-pasta'd. And the sheer scale of things is impressive. You can compare it to the Witcher, for example, but Witcher 3 and most open world games frequently feel like everything is all designed on one flat plane. With Elden Ring, you might spend an hour fighting through one area, only to suddenly loop back onto it a few hours later, only this time from thousands of feet above it. Graphically, the game is a bit janky, which means that I'm not sure that it does immersion into a world as well as some other games (not to mention that it's very much a souls-like, which means that the world is essentially just enemies), but it's incredibly impressive level design. I cannot remember the last game that had exploration that's as rewarding and fun as this.

Indeed. As I said, this is about as good as an AAA open world RPG can get. I just prefer the tighter focus of prior Souls games.

Bit like a Witcher 1 vs Witcher 3 situation for me. TW1 is much more limited in scope but everything is far more meaningful as a result.

Also helps that TW1 is significantly better mechanically than TW3. Not a problem Elden Ring shares when compared to Souls games thankfully, combat still bangs.

 

[Correct_Carlo]

Advice, don't play as mage

I don't have a full sense of the scale of this game yet, but any sort of magic seems meager in the opening sections. And the vast majority of weapons I'm finding seem to be some sort of combination of STR + DEX scaling. There doesn't seem to be any of the traditional souls-like insane scaling in only one stat, although maybe that can be done with the crafting system (which I haven't even begun to look a t yet).

 

[Thac0]

Remember that 100 mana summon from the tutorial dungeon? Went up to 100 mana because I wanted to see if it is good. It is insane.
A highly armored knight who barely takes 100 damage per swing from bosses and has thousands of hp, with extremely high mobility and fast attacks from his two broadswords. He murders hordes of mobs in seconds. He is so strong his damage is nerfed against bosses, and goes from 200 per swing to 80.
Still this dual wielding Gigachad can probably solo a decent few subbosses in the early game. No wonder they built such a trap ridden grave for this Fringe Folk Hero.

 

[deem]

I am playing a faith Confessor and the Flame Sling is far more effective than my +2 sword at the moment. I have 22 FTH now and want to bump it up to 30 so I can use a faith weapon I found.

 

[Sunri]

Advice, don't play as mage

I don't have a full sense of the scale of this game yet, but any sort of magic seems meager in the opening sections. And the vast majority of weapons I'm finding seem to be some sort of combination of STR + DEX scaling. There doesn't seem to be any of the traditional souls-like insane scaling in only one stat, although maybe that can be done with the crafting system (which I haven't even begun to look a t yet).

I changed to mage after academy because i though that all those spells that I got and magic rapier +8 will be good but on all items that buffs int/magic crap come with some weird debuffs to hp and my DMG is trash the best staffs require 52 int to use also i testes all my spells and glinstone pebble had the best MANA consumption/ dmg ratio shit is tragic

 

[hackncrazy]

I get the complaints about the mini dungeons, but am really having a difficult time understanding where these issues with content in exploration or a lack of a sense of purpose is coming from. In 30 hours of play, there has hardly been a moment where I haven't been discovering something new and intriguing, often times getting distracted and taken on a big adventure, only to remember hours later what my initial goal had been when I set out. The lowest points have been said mini dungeons, which were quickly completed and I've only found a few.

I'm not really defending the game or anything - as it clearly doesn't need to be defended - but I am just genuinely confused when I see some of these complaints because of the shear volume of meaningful exploration, adventure, and discovery I am experiencing moment to moment.

I have a few theories about this. One is that this being an open-world, filler content and meaningless connective tissue are inevitable, and those tend to cheapen an otherwise concise experience. The other is the conflicting goals the game gives you, there's the main objective but, at the same time, you're encouraged to lose yourself on the way and explore side content, compared to previous entries where it was: ring bell, kill boss, etc (you could sequence break and try alternate routes, but it was always a straight line). Combine the wandering with the fact that the optional activities can be very unfulfilling (it can do nothing for your build or shed no new light on the plot threads you're following) and you get the feeling of aimlessness.

As I said just before, I'm not nearly a specialist in open world games, but I do feel that From Software games do masterfully is that they reward exploration with two attributes: combat and more exploration.

With Elden Ring, this two attributes are satisfied to an incredible level. You have the amazing combat that can be used in a huge open world and also exploring this open world rewards you with more places to enjoy the combat that will in fact bring more exploration.

For example, if you have the patience to explore Dark Souls, you'll find some secret alternative locations, like Painted World of Ariamis. What is your reward for finding that place? More combat and exploration.

That's the thing in Elden Ring. When you find a catacomb, you'll get a boss fight at the end (and I think 100% of the playerbase of souls games loves boss fights) and that's it. That's the big reward.

I never left a catacomb unhappy even if I felt some of them were generic (and even if what I got after beating it was some shitty crafting item).

I feel like people that played other open world games are expecting exploring a catacomb and finding an amazing item that will change everything and open a massive quest line, but for what I've been playing FS games in the past 10 years, that pretty much never happens.

 

[toro]

I'm actually super short on the low tier smithing stones that let you go up to +3 right now. Sort of annoying as I like to experiment with different weapons.

I've got mountains of the higher tier ones.

you can buy stone +3 from merchant in the hub

 

[Correct_Carlo]

Also, the messaging system in this is really awful. There are messages in front of every single wall saying "secret wall." So much so, that you basically have to just ignore them all as they are no help. There's also a message inside every single fucking chest and in front of every single level to make you do the "alternate option" to open them. FromSoft needs to find a better system to allow players vet messages. I know that misinfo is part of the fun, but the Dark Souls 1 era messaging system is outdated.

 

[deem]

There's also a message inside every single fucking chest and in front of every single level to make you do the "alternate option" to open them.

Alternating is done with the d-pad now which can and does interfere with swapping weapons. Sad.

 

[Cromwell]

Advice, don't play as mage

I don't have a full sense of the scale of this game yet, but any sort of magic seems meager in the opening sections. And the vast majority of weapons I'm finding seem to be some sort of combination of STR + DEX scaling. There doesn't seem to be any of the traditional souls-like insane scaling in only one stat, although maybe that can be done with the crafting system (which I haven't even begun to look a t yet).

I changed to mage after academy because i though that all those spells that I got and magic rapier +8 will be good but on all items that buffs int/magic crap come with some weird debuffs to hp and my DMG is trash the best staffs require 52 int to use also i testes all my spells and glinstone pebble had the best MANA consumption/ dmg ratio shit is tragic

good to know since I already planned to switch to using a club, or a spiked one if there is one and the besta rmor I can get. The pebble is strong early, dont know if that lasts, but its just not much fun.

 

[hackncrazy]

Also, the messaging system in this is really awful. There are messages in front of every single wall saying "secret wall." So much so, that you basically have to just ignore them all as they are no help. There's also a message inside every single fucking chest and in front of every single level to make you do the "alternate option" to open them. FromSoft needs to find a better system to allow players vet messages. I know that misinfo is part of the fun, but the Dark Souls 1 era messaging system is outdated.

At first I was reading the messages and so, but then I realized I was getting spoilers everywhere. Every corner I approached in a dungeon had 300 messages so I already knew what was going to happen. Started playing offline today and it's way better, I'll go back online on NG+.

 

[Jinn]

However most of your time is spent using a vehicle (or mount) to traverse between optional generic outposts, small enemy groups or treasure zones. Overly generous fast travel is available once you get bored. I've never found it particularly engaging but it's totally worn out, uninspired game design by this point.

I would say there are elements of this present, but it's not the focus, nor even close to the type of stuff you will spend the great majority of time on. In fact, I think stating this is a pretty gross misrepresentation of how well the world is actually designed and how much it expects from the player. Furthermore, this game not only absolutely shits all over stuff like Witcher 3, but it's hardly even fair to compare the two.

This take seems extremely surface level and depressed, which is why it's confusing to me to read it on the Codex of all places.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

I get the complaints about the mini dungeons, but am really having a difficult time understanding where these issues with content in exploration or a lack of a sense of purpose is coming from. In 30 hours of play, there has hardly been a moment where I haven't been discovering something new and intriguing, often times getting distracted and taken on a big adventure, only to remember hours later what my initial goal had been when I set out. The lowest points have been said mini dungeons, which were quickly completed and I've only found a few.

I'm not really defending the game or anything - as it clearly doesn't need to be defended - but I am just genuinely confused when I see some of these complaints because of the shear volume of meaningful exploration, adventure, and discovery I am experiencing moment to moment.

The AAA open world doesn't feel any different here than when I first encountered it in Blood Dragon years ago now. There are good mainline "missions" with actual level design, actual encounter design, some story beats etc. However most of your time is spent using a vehicle (or mount) to traverse between optional generic outposts, small enemy groups or treasure zones. Overly generous fast travel is available once you get bored. I've never found it particularly engaging but it's totally worn out, uninspired game design by this point.

Don't get me wrong Elden Ring is probably about as good as a game made this way can get but these modern open worlds always feel like they've been shat out by an algorithm once you take away the "mainline" content.

At present, not a timeless classic the way the Souls game are. Just a pretty good game. I'll see if my opinion changes as I go further ahead.

You got me curious with this one, since I've never played a open world game before: Does ER feels the same as, say, Witcher 3, Fallout 3, Skyrim and such in terms of content? Are the main quest very good but also a great deal of side content in them?

What is the best of the best in terms of open world design?

Can't comment on Fallout 3, never had the misfortune.

As for the other 2, It feels very different. Some minor similarities are present - TW3 has a big world and good visual design, Skyrim has poor side content compared to better primary content (though in Skyrim's case the content never gets better than mediocre).

Overall I'd say Elden Ring is a much, much better game than the other 2. In terms of mechanics, world design, encounter design, item systems, crafting systems, aesthetics, build variety, the lot really.

That said TW3 or Skyrim do have better music. It's rather generic here from what I've heard so far. Odd given how well chosen the Souls series music has been before. Also TW3 has a more emotionally involving story if you've read the books/played the other games and give a shit about Geralt and et al.

 

[Thac0]

It is unbelievable how much better this game is than all those shit open world games it stole the exploration mechanics from. The entire open world genre crawled in shit so that Elden Ring could run.

 

[hackncrazy]

Ok, something fucking amazing just happened to me, but it might be a heavy spoiler:

Spoiler

Was just exploring the eastern part of Limgrave and found a small construction with an elevator. "Well, maybe I'll go to some new mine here", I thought. Then the thing started going down. And it never stopped for almost 30 seconds or so. Now I just discovered an area that apparently it's located BELOW the water, which let you explore some undersea parts of the map. And the place is Bloodborne level of creepiness. What a fucking great moment.

And all in all, that's the most amazing thing so far to me. I was going to do something else in another area and stumbled in this and I'm almost an hour just exploring this area. I think the only other game that surprised me so much was La Mulana.

 

[Jinn]

Ok, something fucking amazing just happened to me, but it might be a heavy spoiler:

And all in all, that's the most amazing thing so far to me. I was going to do something else in another area and stumbled in this and I'm almost an hour just exploring this area. I think the only other game that surprised me so much was La Mulana.

And this is the perfect example of what I've mainly been referring to in my posts today. This is the type of adventure I've regularly been engaged in for the majority of my time spent in the "open world" portion of the game. Huge moments of wonder and discovery.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

However most of your time is spent using a vehicle (or mount) to traverse between optional generic outposts, small enemy groups or treasure zones. Overly generous fast travel is available once you get bored. I've never found it particularly engaging but it's totally worn out, uninspired game design by this point.

I would say there are elements of this present, but it's not the focus, nor even close to the type of stuff you will spend the great majority. In fact, I think stating this is a pretty gross misrepresentation of how well the world is actually designed and how much it expects from the player. Furthermore, this game not only absolutely shits all over stuff like Witcher 3, but it's hardly even fair to compare the two.

This take seems extremely surface level and depressed, which is why it's confusing to me to read it on the Codex of all places.

I hope I'm not misrepresenting my opinion here. Elden Ring is a pretty good game - better than any newish open world RPG I've played that's not Dragon's Dogma and, as I've said above, about as well designed as a game like this can be. But the presence of boiler-plate open world crap in a FromSoft game is difficult not to criticise especially when their games have been so distinct from more standardised AAA industry fare for so long.

As a note when stating "most of your time is spent using a vehicle etc" above I'm referring to general AAA open world design tropes - I'm not specifically referring to Elden Ring as being overly egregious in this department compared to other examples of the same. More that it is present in a Soulslike in the 1st place, something I find rather disappointing.

 

[HumanTotemPole]

Ok, something fucking amazing just happened to me, but it might be a heavy spoiler:

Spoiler

Was just exploring the eastern part of Limgrave and found a small construction with an elevator. "Well, maybe I'll go to some new mine here", I thought. Then the thing started going down. And it never stopped for almost 30 seconds or so. Now I just discovered an area that apparently it's located BELOW the water, which let you explore some undersea parts of the map. And the place is Bloodborne level of creepiness. What a fucking great moment.

And all in all, that's the most amazing thing so far to me. I was going to do something else in another area and stumbled in this and I'm almost an hour just exploring this area. I think the only other game that surprised me so much was La Mulana.

Found the same thing. Great moment!

 

[fork]

Yeah, the game has quite a few of those wow-moments.
But it's not worth suffering through all the shit content.